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I have heard alot of great things about the corn furnaces. We have plenty of corn in Indiana. Based on my last 2 years usage and using current propane prices. I'm going to spend about $2800 this year for propane alone. Most of that is heating my home. (newer 2500 sqft but with high ceilings and lots of windows)

One thing I have heard (from Farm Show magazine) is the corn burner from Northern tool is no good. I bought a cd rom from e-bay that has every corn burner patent since 1970, lots of good information. Last propane I bought cost $1.35 so we are burning a lot of wood and haven't turned the furnace on yet. When we get moved to the farm we are going to invest in a good one. We can buy shelled corn from the co-op for 10cents over what they pay the farmers. Last calculation I seen put a bushel of corn worth almost $9.00 in propane

Sure do! Are you talking corn furnace or corn stove? Big difference. I called my fuel oil supplier back in Oct. and the quote was 1.78 per gal. 3 weeks later it was 2.08! Well, I ripped out the 27 year old furnace we had in the basement which was a Duo-Matic, oil,wood, coal furnace. I thought 27 years was a long time for a furnace, and besides mama said she had enough carrying wood into the house every night and making a fire! Well, I did a lot of checking around for a furnace. Had been off and on the last couple of years since wood was getting scarce and expensive, 150.00 per cord this year.
Traiger(sp) makes a pellet furnace which I heard some bad reports on. They're big in Canada though.
Well, we settled for the Magnum 7500 corn/wood pellet furnace. 87,000 btu's. Best thing I ever bought! Been in since early November. I go to bed at night and the thermostat says 70, I wake-up it says 70. No big swings like when heating with wood where too much means 87 in the house with windows open until it cools down some.
The Magnum does hook to your thermostat on the wall and has 4 speeds each, for the auger and the stirrer. When the house is at set temp. the auger slows to pilot speed. When the thermostat calls for more heat it automatically speeds up.
As for ash, probably a water glass full a day. Very fine "fly ash". I have a hot vac which I use to suck out the ash around the fire pot in the morning and at night, all of 30 second job.
The hopper on the furnace holds 210# of shelled corn. They say the furnace shouldn't be used as a main source of heat and I think the reason is if you go away the furnace will run out of corn and go out, your house gets cold or freezes while your in Aruba!
As for the amount of corn I burn. I figure 80#'s per day to heat 1800 sq.ft. with an outside temp. of 20. It been zero already this winter and there hasn't been any problem for the furnace to keep the temp at 70 inside.
I go to my local feed mill and order a ton at a time of bagged shelled corn. $120 per ton. Actually I put up a 3.1T Chore-Time grain bin that I've filled with corn for mama. She hauls about 6 bags every 3-4 days and pours them through a funnel in the garage that passes through the wall into the basement that fills a Rubbermaid 55 gal. wastebasket on wheels. She then pulls that over to the furnace and fills the hopper about every two days. When it's in the 40's out the auger slows down and I use less corn, and when it gets colder out it speeds up more. Corn should be less than 15.5 % moisture. I bought a tester which really helps. It does dry while sitting in the wastebasket. They say the drier the more heat you get. As for btu's, you can find it on the web, but lp is like 92.000 per gal, fuel oil is 142,000 per gal. and a bushel of corn is 390,000 btu's. Close to 3 gals of fuel oil to a bu. of corn and 5+ gal. of lp per bu. of corn. I'm sold on the thing. I'm figuring on going through about $600 worth of corn as far as I can figure it,where I'd have gone through 1000+ gal. of fuel oil for a little over $2000.
I had a tin knocker come in and make a plenum for the thing and hook my existing pipes to it.
It's in the basement and heats the whole house.
It's runs quiet too. Yes, you can also use wood pellets, but they do cost more than corn and don't have the same btu's. No smoke out the chimney either. 87% efficient. Uses 3 inch double walled stainless stl. flue pipe up the chimney with a separate outside 3 inch fresh air intake. Furnace is for the whole house, stoves are generally for one family room.
I'd be happy to answer any other questions you have. Like I said, I love the thing and I'm not a salesman for the company either. Oh, and 3 folks I've talked with who have called their lp supplier to see if they could get a small tank instead of the big "pig" in the yard since they now use way less fuel......the suppliers have since refused their business! One guy after his family had bought from the same supplier for 60 years!

Thanks for all the info guys. Thanks Ricko for the detailed info. I just ended up buying a unit from Ja-Ran Enterprises. It is a 100,000 btu unit with a 12 bu hopper. The unit is called a Superior bio-mass furnace. They are located near Lexington, MI. I went up Friday and picked it up. It is not hooked up yet but I am in the process of getting that done. They gave me phone numbers of some local people that had bought their units. One guy had had his for 4 years and loved it with no problems. It gives you a little confidence hearing from someone with some longevity running the unit. Don't yet know how happy I'll be with the unit but will post a note when I get a little time under my belt with it. Thanks again for the info.

Good deal Dan. You might want to check with some of those folks about mixing in a few handfuls of crushed oyster shell with your corn. It stops the build-up of clinkers on the stirrer in the fire pot. I seen the fuel truck arrive accross the street the other day. Looked like Attila the Hun coming to rape and plunder. It was a horrible sight to see! Just ruined their budget for the month I'm sure!

Re: Anyone know anything about corn furnaces?

Originally Posted by Dan Williamson

Thanks for all the info guys. Thanks Ricko for the detailed info. I just ended up buying a unit from Ja-Ran Enterprises. It is a 100,000 btu unit with a 12 bu hopper. The unit is called a Superior bio-mass furnace. They are located near Lexington, MI. I went up Friday and picked it up. It is not hooked up yet but I am in the process of getting that done. They gave me phone numbers of some local people that had bought their units. One guy had had his for 4 years and loved it with no problems. It gives you a little confidence hearing from someone with some longevity running the unit. Don't yet know how happy I'll be with the unit but will post a note when I get a little time under my belt with it. Thanks again for the info.

Dan

Sorry to bring up a very old thread, but I have not found much info on these furnaces. My house has one that I am using for the first time. Does the blower run often for you? Mine runs about every 10 minutes or so to cool the heat exchanger back down. Other then that it has been great! My house is warmer then ever and I am still saving money, even with propane as cheap as it is. Were there any adjustments you had to make to really dial it in?